Chapter 104

Chapter 104

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 104With Kwak Chun-sik appearing together with the old men, the gazes of the people around began gathering toward us.

“You've arrived! Senior!”

“Welcome! Senior!”

“I respect you! Senior!”

Though they were merely old men standing with their hands clasped behind their backs, countless heroes greeted them just for entering the banquet hall.

But the man standing in front of me was merely opening and closing his mouth as he stared at the old men who were even older than him.

“Hey. Man-seok.”

“Uh... what in the world...”

“Man-seok. Can't you speak properly? Do you really want to do this the old-fashioned way?”

“...

What brings you here with all the other seniors as well?”

Kang Man-seok, who had been so imposing just moments ago, instantly lost his momentum and asked back.

This was precisely why he hadn't wanted to bring Kwak Chun-sik back from Gangwon Province.

The fact that he was his senior.

And that he possessed greater power than him, along with influence befitting that strength.

“What else? I came to see my disciple.”

“Your disciple...?”

At Kang Man-seok's question, Kwak Chun-sik strode over and naturally placed a hand on my shoulder.

“This kid you trapped with soundproofing magic and spouted strange nonsense at is my disciple.”

“What? Your disciple? Could he be from the martial arts hall...”

“No. He's the successor to my Aura Style.”

At Kwak Chun-sik's words, the bastard blankly opened his mouth.

“...

Your Aura Style?”

“That's right. But some fly seems to have dirtied my disciple, so this senior of yours isn't feeling too good.”

While Kwak Chun-sik thoroughly harassed Kang Man-seok, I put as much strength as possible into the corners of my mouth to control my expression.

Because I'd seen that dumbfounded expression of Kang Man-seok's somewhere else before.‘Was it when I tried the challenge of assassinating the Association President naked? I'm pretty sure he made that exact face when he woke up.’But given the situation, I couldn't relax and laugh.

If I laughed here, there'd be no point in having brought Kwak Chun-sik and the other elders.

“Eugene.”

Kwak Chun-sik called my name.

“Yes. Master.”

“What did this bastard say to you?”

“...

He told me to join his side. He asked why I was siding with the Academy.”

“And?”

“He threatened me and ordered me to obediently tell him who was behind me.”

I muttered that in as subdued a voice as possible, and Kang Man-seok looked at me with an aggrieved expression.

“No, when did I ever──”

“Man-seok. My disciple is speaking, isn't he?”

“Senior. But isn't that bastard making me out to be some strange person right now?”

“Are you saying my disciple is lying? You, of all people?”

At that, Kang Man-seok took a step back, then made a blank expression before letting out a disbelieving “Ha!”

“Don't tell me, did you plan this from the beginning?”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Certainly, you'd have reason to hold a grudge against me, Senior. After all, I was the one who benefited the most after you went to Gangwon Province.”

As if the position of Association President hadn't simply fallen into his lap, Kang Man-seok seemed to have instantly grasped the situation and looked at Kwak Chun-sik with a very confident attitude.

“Senior. I am now the President of the Republic of Korea Hero Association. No matter how much of a senior you are, wouldn't it be better if you showed proper courtesy?”

“Ha, courtesy? Courtesy, huh...”

The old man tapped his fingers together and pretended to think deeply.

Then eventually opened his mouth again.

“Haha, our Man-seok is asking for courtesy. I figured this might happen, so I brought courtesy with me. Gentlemen. It seems our Man-seok has forgotten his manners.”

At Kwak Chun-sik's words, two old men who had remained still until now stepped forward and raised their left and right hands respectively.

“Man-seok. You haven't forgotten that these old men's nickname is the Courtesy Injector, have you?”

“Support coming into Hero Silver Town from the Association has been a bit light lately. Have you truly forgotten your manners?”

The atmosphere in the banquet hall instantly turned cold.

It was an atmosphere where it wouldn't have been strange for a fight to break out at any moment, but I alone could calmly watch the scene.

Because one of the strongest old men in the Republic of Korea still hadn't arrived.

“Eugene.”

At that moment, Choi Yeon behind me lightly tugged on the hem of my clothes.

“He's here.”

“Looks like it.”

Then the door opened and another old man appeared.

At that, Choi Yeon wiped the whipped cream from the corner of her mouth with a tissue, then waved her hand.

“Grandpa. Over here.”

“Yeon! So my granddaughter was over there. But... Man-seok and Chun-sik? What are you doing?”

He's here.

Another one of the strongest old men.

Sword Saint Choi Seon-ho.

“...

Senior.”

“I asked what you're doing?”

There was one trait of Choi Seon-ho that most people didn't know.

That was just how terrifyingly important he considered senior-junior relationships.

Having grown up in the Azure Sky Sword Clan since childhood and considered it natural, he was someone who placed enormous importance on seniority by cohort.

In a word, he was a terrifying Confucian Taliban.

“Man-seok. If I'm not seeing things wrong, are you talking back to Chun-sik right now? Chun-sik, who's in the ‘same cohort’ as me?”

“N-no. That's not it...”

“It seems we need to have a little talk... Chun-sik. The kids are eating here, so how about we step outside to talk?”

“That sounds good. Cheong-sam. Chun-cheol. Let's go.”

“Oh my~ Sure, sure.”

“A good brawl is always nice~.”

The Youth Duo who answered like that suddenly approached me, then patted my shoulder with bright smiles.

“Right. Eugene, study hard.”

“Ah... yes.”

“Train hard too! Your sense is a gift from heaven, so if you polish it, you'll become strong in no time. Got it?”

“I'll always keep that in mind.”

“Hahaha. Right, right. Now, let's go. Don't disturb the kids while they're eating.”

The log-thick arms of the two old men wrapped around the Association President's shoulders from both sides like they were putting their arms around him, then dragged him away.

And just like that, the old men disappeared from the banquet hall after stirring up a storm.

“Grandpa looked angry...”

Choi Yeon, who had been quietly watching from beside me, muttered expressionlessly, then sat back down and resumed eating dessert as though nothing had happened.

Even with something like that happening right beside her, I was wondering just why she was risking her life over dessert so much... when.

“Hm?”

The dessert looked strangely familiar, and apparently it was food from the ‘Recipe Development Club.’

Don't tell me, does she know the desserts have additional effects and that's why she's eating them like that?

Trying to get stronger while eating?

“...

Maybe I should eat too.”

For some reason, I suddenly got hungry.

______________

In the end, the closing ceremony was handled by Park Yoon-ho, the grade head.

From what I heard, the dean had also followed the other old men out and hadn't returned afterward.

When I contacted old man Kwak Chun-sik to ask about it, he said it was nothing serious.

Apparently they had merely given the Association President a collective ‘scolding,’ then went out drinking with the Sword Saint, whom they hadn't seen in a long time.

And it seemed the dean had gotten caught up in it and ended up going along with them.

In the end, my plan to call the old man and the heroes in Gangwon Province to pressure the Association President could be considered a success.

I hadn't prepared the plan from the very beginning.

I had only been able to come up with it after seeing the Association President and Lee Won-ho giving their speeches, along with Ji Su-hyeon's furious expression.

I sent Ji Su-hyeon to Gangwon Province to bring the elders.

Then old man Kwak Chun-sik entered the banquet hall with the elders backing him and openly flaunted his relationship with me, keeping the Association President in check.

And in the process, Choi Yeon's support fire in calling the Sword Saint also played a major role.

Thanks to that, the Association President and the other heroes who had visited this place must have reconsidered my existence.

From second-ranked at the Academy to old man Kwak Chun-sik's disciple.

From merely a talented student to a student who clearly had something behind him.

A freshman whose background revealed on the surface alone was untouchable, while investigations into him yielded almost nothing.‘Untouchable.’I had truly become an existence no one could carelessly mess with.

The benefits gained from this were extremely varied.

The trust of the Academy dean and pro-Academy teachers.

Showing off my presence.

And even preventing hostile forces from carelessly touching me.

The growing influence of Familia, the club where I was president, was a bonus.

“War at the Summit...”

Suddenly, I heard Jin-woo muttering beside me.

“What?”

“War at the Summit. Boss, don't you know? It's when all the strongest people in the setting gather in one place and start a war. What happened in the banquet hall just now was totally a War at the Summit. Like, the great heroes of the past come to visit the Academy's young sprouts and bring peace!”...

The nuance seemed considerably different, but it wasn't entirely wrong either, so I could roughly understand what he meant.

“But why hasn't peace come to us? Why do we have to take classes even on the day of the freshman welcome partyyy!!”

The bastard wailed dramatically as though performing in a Shakespearean play.

Just as Jin-woo said, after finishing lunch at the banquet and the closing ceremony, we had returned to the classroom and were waiting.

“It can't be helped. In the end, if we don't attend class now, that means we'll fall behind in the curriculum. Even mentoring requires us to make up missed classes with online lectures, doesn't it?”

Keeping up with the curriculum was a serious matter... something nothing could stop.

There was still some time before class began, yet Se-ah, who had been watching an online lecture, removed her earphones and joined the conversation.

“More importantly. Jin-woo, are you watching your online lectures? They said they'll mark you absent if you don't complete them.”

“Ah, those? I just play them every day while gaming. Isn't that enough?”

At Jin-woo's completely matter-of-fact answer, she sighed with a fed-up expression.

“What are you going to do about the exams?”

“Exams? I'll cram somehow. If anything, you're the weird one for actually watching every single online lecture. Right, Boss?”

“Hm?”

At the arrow suddenly flying toward me, even Se-ah's gaze landed on me...

If I said I also just played the online lectures while doing something else, Jin-woo would puff up with pride and Se-ah would be disappointed, right?

At times like this, I had to stay calm and give the model answer.

“...

If it's for the exams, of course you should watch them.”

“See! You're the only one playing games!”

“No, this is what's actually normal?!”

I didn't watch them because I already knew most of the material in the online lectures, but Jin-woo was different.

“I heard that if you fail the exams, club activities are prohibited and you have to take remedial classes in the meantime... wouldn't it be better to study at least a little?”

If the bastard failed his exams, it could interfere with club activities.

“R-remedial classes? I never heard about that?!”

“...

That's because it's obvious. How about reviewing things again even now? You'll have to take the midterms eventually.”

At that, Jin-woo clenched his fist with a determined expression as though making a resolution.

“...

I! Believe in future Jin-woo! Future Jin-woo! I'm counting on you!”

He's definitely going to curse past Jin-woo later.

It was obvious without even seeing it.

And while we were spending time chatting like that.

Young-je, who had been called out separately by the instructor, entered the classroom with a sigh.

“Could everyone focus for a moment?”

If he was gathering everyone's attention when there wasn't much time left before class, it had to be an announcement.

And as though proving my guess correct, Young-je opened his mouth.

“The Basic Medical Techniques class that was originally scheduled has been canceled because the practice room was half-destroyed. So apparently it's being replaced with another class.”

A replacement class?

Just as I was wondering about that.

“They said we're having an outdoor class, so everyone has to come outside the Academy.”

Young-je said that with a sigh, looking as though he couldn't be more annoyed.